new dog problems

a few months ago we decided to find a new friend for our male staff steve, after a few weeks of searching different kennels we found Shelley, also a staff cross and they seemed to get on well together, playing and chasing each other and stuff. we bought her home today, they were having a run around in the garden but she's decided that she wants to sleep, he on the other hand is a ball of energy and wants to keep going but he has now started to try and provoke her, first it was just nudging her to carry on playing, and then it moved onto biting her on the side. she never retaliates but it cant be nice for her. we've separated them but i dont know the best way to move forward. she'll be sleeping in a crate in the kitchen where as he is not crated at night.

they were fed at the same time but she was in the crate and he wasnt. i dont want him getting jealous or anything im just concerned in case he decides he hates her!

Sounds like Steve's just really excited about having a new pooch around the house. Its fab that she doesnt retaliate mind, they're still getting to know each other, Steve will soon understand when Shelley wants to sleep. Im sure she will let him know if the nudging/biting is annoying her! Give it time

i dont want him to hurt her though, she's had a rough life so far poor thing, and he doesnt know his own strength. is there a way i can get her to leave her be for a while apart from lock them both up? or shall i just let them get on with it and hope for the best?

What about distracting him with a toy or give them both a stuffed kong to calm down. Dont lock them up, he just needs to be shown that provoking her isnt acceptable. In fact...just thought...my pooch always provokes my mums rotty and everytime Shéara does this, my mum says 'OUT' and points out the room. This way he knows he will be seperated from everyone so he stops and lies down. Its not telling them off, it just saying 'if you do that, this will happen'. You dont want Shelley getting confused by it so you could physically move Steve away just to the other side of the room or just outside the door. Just a thought.

It does just sound likes he's really excited.

Personally I wouldn't try to keep them apart too much but do try to supervise them when they're togeather for now, then if things start to get a bit heated you can seperate them.

they seem to have got it all out of their systems this morning! she started to fight back and they were "fighting" for about 2 hours lol they went for a walk together and i took them to my parents house where we used to live with steve and they had another fighting session. they're now back home, shelley is asleep on the floor and steve is asleep on the sofa. i think steve is a bit bemused at the fact that shelley wont jump on the furnature, where as he's always been allowed, she cant bring herself to do it! they're still picking at each other but hopefully the big fights have stopped for a while!

Think Steve is just so happy to have a full time play mate and is getting over excited, Shelley on the other hand is still reajusting to everything, they will find middle ground and adjust to each other!, the fighting is good to get out of there systems, after all someone has to b top dog, good luck with it anyway!

They've tired themselves out!  

is there anything i should be keeping an eye out for in the next few days? i dont want to have to send her away but i am worried as they seem to be doing nothing but biting each other! the tails are wagging but it doesnt look like playing!

Staffords do play rough, have a read through this, it may help if you can recognise their body language.

http://www.staffy-bull-terrier.com/dog_body_language